U.S. deficit to soar to record $3.8 trillion in 2020, budget watchdog group says - Reuters

A steep economic downturn and massive coronavirus rescue spending will nearly quadruple the fiscal 2020 U.S. budget deficit to a record $3.8 trillion, a staggering 18.7% of U.S. economic output, a Washington-based watchdog group said on Monday.

Read more at:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-budget/u-s-deficit-to-soar-to-record-3-8-trillion-in-2020-budget-watchdog-group-says-idUSKCN21V1TA

US Economy: America′s massive debt load a no-show on the campaign trail

Public health care, education and gun laws are the hottest issues in the US election campaign. But neither Democratic nor Republican hopefuls are eager to discuss the burning question of the country's financial future.

US President Donald Trump is not exactly known for being humble when it comes to describing his leadership credentials. Already in the run-up to the 2016 elections that swept him to power, the then Republican candidate pledged to "eliminate" the $19 trillion (€17.4 trillion) of US debts within a period of eight years.

Now, almost four years later, a look at Trump's debt reduction record is sobering by all counts. Instead of lowering America's debt load, figures recently released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) show the upward trajectory of the country's financial problems.

Since assuming office, the Trump administration has added a net total of $2.5 trillion in fresh debt, with the US budget deficit in the first four months of 2020 alone rising by 25%. This means that Trump has already spent close to 40% of the entire deficit last year.

The primary reason for the budget gap is Trump's 2017 package of tax cuts, which he once described as a "great Christmas gift to the middle class."

With overall US debts spiraling to $22.5 trillion, the CBO now has warned that such a high and rising debt load could pose a severe financial risk to the United States. The nonpartisan agency has estimated that state spending could surpass revenue by $1 trillion in 2020.

Surprisingly though, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have made this an issue in their campaigns for the US presidency.

The US "Trump dollar" is totally overvalued

Trump also didn't waste a word on the debt problem in his latest State of the Union address and failed to chart out a clear reduction strategy. All he came up with was the lofty promise of trimming state expenditure by $4.4 trillion over the next decade. At the same time, however, Trump plans to increase spending for the military, the space industry and for the wall he wants to building along the border with Mexico.

Among the Democratic hopefuls, too, the US's dire financial straits seem to be on the backburner of their campaigns. In their first televised debate, all of the candidates conspicuously ignored the debt issue, with the ugly "deficit" word not being mentioned once in the 4-hour road show. Public debts were only once briefly touched upon.

Political observers believe the Democrats have many reasons to keep America's miserable finances flying under the radar during the presidential primaries.

"The average American has no interest in US debt at all," says G. William Hoagland, senior vice president at the Washington-based think tank Bipartisan Policy Center. He told DW that the booming US economy of the past years, including low interest rates and unemployment, had Americans feeling less worried about the mounting deficit.

"So why should Democrats address such a sensitive topic and stick their neck out for it," he says, and notes that most of the voters are satisfied overall with their current financial situation.

Read more: America′s massive debt load a no-show on the campaign trail | Business| Economy and finance news from a German perspective | DW | 25.02.2020

German Economy: Germany posts record-breaking budget surplus

Germany had a record budget surplus of € 13.5 billion ($15 billion) at the end of 2019, the Finance Ministry announced on Monday.

"We've had a bit of luck, and of course we've economized well," German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said in Berlin on Monday, just a year after he claimed the "fat" years were over for Germany.

It is the third time in the last five years that Europe's largest economy closed the year with a budget surplus. The 2019 surplus overtook a 2015 budget surplus of €12.1 billion.

Added to that figure is an additional €5.5 billion from a fund earmarked for refugees that went unspent, making a total surplus of €19 billion.

In contrast the US budget deficit topped $1 trillion in 2019.

Read more at: Germany posts record-breaking budget surplus | News | DW | 13.01.2020

Global Economy: Central Bankers Are Sick of Rescuing the World Economy Alone - by William Horobin and Simon Kennedy

Global central bankers are again in the driving seat when it comes to propping up the world economy, but many are demanding governments join them in the rescue effort.

Amid slowing global growth, the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and perhaps even the Bank of Japan are all set to ease monetary policy in coming months. But with less room to act than in the past, their leaders are telling politicians they will need to assist if a downturn takes hold.

The pressure could be applied in person on Wednesday when central bankers and finance ministers from the Group of Seven nations meet for talks north of Paris. They convene at a hazardous juncture for the global economy, as an unpredictable trade war risks precipitating a deeper downturn, and some bond markets hint at a growing possibility of a recession.

G-7 host nation France may even offer a reason to take note. President Emmanuel Macron’s 17 billion euros ($19.2 billion) of support for consumers in response to the Yellow Vests protests may have been contrary to his deficit-reduction mantra, but is proving fortuitous amid a global slowdown. French growth in 2019 is expected to outpace the euro-area average for the first time in six years.

“We are seeing political risks rising everywhere, so addressing the lack of growth that benefits all is quite urgent,” said Laurence Boone, chief economist at the OECD. “That cannot be achieved only through monetary policy.”
 

France’s GDP is expected to be more resilient than peers this year.

While Powell of the US has warned the U.S. fiscal position is unsustainable in the long-run, he said last week it’s “not a good thing to have monetary policy being the main game in town.” 

The U.S. got a boost in 2018 from President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax overhaul, but that effect is fading.

Read more at: Central Bankers Are Sick of Rescuing the World Economy Alone - Bloomberg

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USA - Economy - the party is over: Dow plunges nearly 800 points on rising fears of an economic slowdown - by Fred Imbert

US Economy: the party is over  - Republican mismanagement

Stocks fell sharply on Tuesday in the biggest decline since the October rout as investors worried about a bond-market phenomenon signaling a possible economic slowdown. Lingering worries around U.S.-China trade also added to jitters on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 799.36 points, or 3.1 percent, to close at 25,027.07 and posted its worst day since Oct. 10. At its low of the day, the Dow had fallen more than 800 points.

The S&P 500 declined 3.2 percent to close at 2,700.06. The benchmark fell below its 200-day moving average, which triggered more selling from algorithmic funds. Financials were the worst performers in the S&P 500, plunging 4.4 percent. Utilities was the only positive sector in the S&P 500, rising 0.16 percent.

Read more: Dow plunges nearly 800 points on rising fears of an economic slowdown

US ECONOMY: COULD RECORD US DEFICIT TRIGGER THE NEXT RECESSION: ? "As U.S. trade gap widens to dangerous hights."

The U.S. trade deficit rose to a seven-month high in September as imports surged to a record high amid strong domestic demand, offsetting a rebound in exports.

The Commerce Department said on Friday the trade gap increased 1.3 percent to $54.0 billion, widening for a fourth straight month. Data for August was revised to show the trade deficit rising to $53.3 billion instead of the previously reported $53.2 billion.

Could the US Economy collapse?

But here's the bigger question that retail investors and Wall Street are currently asking: Is the current stock market correction over? Given the many headwinds facing stocks and the U.S. and/or global economy, the answer may not be what investors want to hear.

Here are 25 reasons and/or scenarios that could cause the stock market to head substantially lower than where it's currently valued.

1. The ongoing trade war with China escalates, raising material costs, curbing consumer spending, and hurting corporate profits.
2. Corporate share buybacks fail to boost per-share profits as much as expected.
3. Democrats win one or both houses of Congress, hurting the chance of Republicans to pass further fiscal stimulus legislation.
4. The federal budget deficit continues to soar, placing added emphasis on our growing national debt, currently at more than $21 trillion.
5. The U.S. dollar keeps strengthening, placing pressure on exports and worsening the U.S. trade deficit with foreign countries.
6. FANG stocks – that's Facebook, Amazon.com, Netflix, and Google (now Alphabet) -- continue to draw the ire of short-sellers.
7. The Federal Reserve gets overly aggressive with interest rate hikes, sapping lending demand.
8. The yield curve flattens, reducing the desire of banks to lend money.
9. Interest rates rise, providing incentive for investors to ditch volatile equities for the safety of bonds and bank CDs.
10. Britain falls into a "hard Brexit." With few or no trade deals in place, the U.K. falls into recession, taking the U.S. and other developed countries with it.
11. China's economy experiences its slowest growth in decades, placing pressure on its ability to import from the U.S. and other key players.
12. The U.S. housing market shows signs of weakening, with important markets like California seeing a steep drop-off in new home sales.
13. Credit-card delinquencies begin to trickle higher, demonstrating the inability of consumers to meet their payment obligations.
14. The subprime auto loan market bubble bursts.
15. The U.S. goes to war, regardless of the reason or the country in question.
16. An errant tweet from President Trump stirs Wall Street and investors.
17. A flash crash caused by computer algorithms results in substantially reduced liquidity and perpetuates a rapid move lower in the stock market.
18. Investor emotions (especially those of day traders) get out of hand and send traders running for the exit.
19. The unemployment rate, which is at a 49-year low, begins to rise, signaling peak employment and the possibility of a weakening economy.
20. Disruption in important oil-producing countries causes crude prices to skyrocket or plunge. Either way, it could create sticker shock or job losses and adversely impact the U.S. economy.
21. U.S. GDP data shows slowing growth, which, in turn, cools investor expectations for stocks, sending them lower.
22. Inflation comes in far lower than expected, signaling that businesses have little pricing power. The prospect of deflation could wreak havoc on corporate earnings, causing the market to fall.
23. The U.S. debt ceiling is hit (yet again), but the political divide in Congress becomes too great for lawmakers to overcome, allowing the shutdown to perpetuate for months.
24. European debt crisis 2.0 hits, with countries like Italy unable to dig their way out of years of loose borrowing.
25. A widely followed pundit, such as Warren Buffett, sounds the cry of the stock market being overvalued.

In other words, there is no shortage of reasons the stock market could tumble from its recent all-time highs.

Bottom-line, however -it does not look good for the US Economy as the deficit is coming close to a trillion US dollars.Impossible to pay it back, unless by slashing government spending, and increasing taxes.

Unlike the trillion dollar budget deficits that occurred during the Obama administration that were temporary and largely the result of the Great Recession, the Trump deficits that will soon reach and exceed $1 trillion are permanent and will only get worse in the years ahead.

The Trump deficits are the result of changes in federal spending and revenue that will continue to be in place until some president and Congress decide to reverse them, that is, to increase taxes and make cuts to popular programs.

EU-Digest

USA: Disturbing facts about the US Infrastructure and a variety of other problems which are getting worse by the day

The US infrastructure and the country is in dire need of repair

Someone once said that you can tell a lot about a nation by the condition of the infrastructure.

So what does the US infrastructure say about America?  It says that America is in a very advanced state of decay.

At this point, much of America is being held together with spit, duct tape and prayers.  Roads are crumbling and thousands of its bridges look like they could collapse at any moment.  The power grid is ancient and over a trillion gallons of untreated sewage is leaking from aging sewer systems each year.

US  airports and seaports are clogged with far more traffic than they were ever designed to carry.

Approximately a third of all of the dam failures that have taken place in the United States since 1874 have happened during the past decade.  The national parks and recreation areas have been terribly neglected and the US railroads system is a bad joke.

Recent hurricanes which hit America showed how vulnerable the  levees and dikes are, and drinking water systems all over the country are badly outdated.  Sadly, at a time when we could use significant new investment in infrastructure,  the spending on infrastructure is actually way down.

Back during the 50s and the 60s, the U.S. was spending between 3 and 4 percent of GDP on infrastructure.  Today, that figure is down to about 2.4 percent.  But the US does not have any extra money to spend on infrastructure because of reckless spending and because of the massive amount of national debt that it has accumulated.

Here are 21 facts about America’s failing infrastructure

#1 The American Society of Civil Engineers has given America’s crumbling infrastructure an overall grade of D.
#2 There are simply not enough roads in the United States today.  Each year, traffic jams cost the commuters of America 4.2 billion hours and about 2.8 million gallons of gasoline.
#3 It is being projected that Americans will spend an average of 160 hours stuck in traffic annually by the year 2035.
#4 Approximately one-third of all roads in the United States are in substandard condition.
#5 Close to a third of all highway fatalities are due “to substandard road conditions, obsolete road designs, or roadside hazards.”
#6 One out of every four bridges in America either carries more traffic than originally intended or is in need of repair.
#7 Repairing all of the bridges in the United States that need repair would take approximately 140 billion dollars.
#8 According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, our decaying transportation system costs the U.S. economy about 78 billion dollars annually in lost time and fuel.
#9 All over America, asphalt roads are being ground up and are being replaced with gravel roads because they are cheaper to maintain.  The state of South Dakota has transformed over 100 miles of asphalt roads into gravel roads, and 38 out of the 83 counties in the state of Michigan have transformed at least some of their asphalt roads into gravel roads.
#10 There are 4,095 dams in the United States that are at risk of failure.  That number has risen by more than 100 percent since 1999.
#11 Of all the dam failures that have happened in the United States since 1874, a third of them have happened during the past decade.
#12 Close to half of all U.S. households do not have access to Public bus or rail transit.
#13  The US's aging sewer systems spill more than a trillion gallons of untreated sewage every single year.  The cost of cleaning up that sewage each year is estimated to be greater than 50 billion dollars.
#14 It is estimated that rolling blackouts and inefficiencies in the U.S. electrical grid cost the U.S. economy approximately 80 billion dollars a year.
#15 It is being projected that by the year 2020 every single major container port in the United States will be handling at least double the volume that it was originally designed to handle.
#16 All across the United States, conditions at many of our state parks, recreation areas and historic sites are deplorable at best.  Some states have backlogs of repair projects that are now over a billion dollars long….
#17 Today, the U.S. spends about 2.4 percent of GDP on infrastructure.  Meanwhile, China spends about 9 percent of GDP on infrastructure.
#18 In the United States today, approximately 16 percent of our construction workers are unemployed.
#19 China has plans to build 55,000 miles of highways by the year 2020.  If all of those roads were put end to end, it would be longer than the total length of the entire U.S. interstate system.
#20 The World Economic Forum ranks U.S. infrastructure 23rd in the world, and we fall a little bit farther behind the rest of the developed world every single day.
#21 It has been projected that it would take 2.2 trillion dollars over the next 5 years just to repair our existing infrastructure.  That does not even include a single penny for badly needed new infrastructure.

So where did the US go wrong?

Well, one of the big problems is that the US have become a very materialistic "me first" society that is obsessed with short-term thinking.  Investing in infrastructure is something that has long-term benefits, but these days Americans tend to only be focused on what is happening right now and most politicians are only focused on the next election cycle.

Another major problem is that there is so much corruption and waste in the US  system these days. Special interest groups and corporations have basically total control over the US political system

The government certainly spends more than enough money, but very little of that money is spent wisely. Too much is going into military spending, without questions asked; No one in America seems to have figured out that the US is not obliged to be the global cop to keep the weapons industry happy.

And sadly, the US simply does not have the money that it  needs for infrastructure because of all the debt that it has have piled up.

Unless the Trump Administration puts their money where their mouth is ( which they have not done so far) the federal government, state governments and local governments are all struggling to stay afloat in an ocean of red ink, and unfortunately that means that spending on infrastructure is likely to be cut even more in the years ahead.

It is high time everyone in America wakes up to the reality that "business as usual" is not working anymore and that radical change is needed. So far no one has seriously stepped up to the plate. 

EU-Digest

US Economy: How debt could blow up the Trump economy- by Shawn Tully

Donald Trump is pitching, as only Donald Trump can pitch, that a major economic revival is energizing America for a new run at greatness, and that he’s the straw stirring the elixir. In one representative recent tweet, the President declared, “Our economy is now booming and with all I am doing, will only get better … Our country is WINNING again!”

Though “booming” is Trumpian overstatement, it’s undeniable that by many criteria, the President’s agenda is proving remarkably successful. In Trump’s first three full quarters in the White House, GDP clocked growth just shy of his vaunted goal of 3%, a performance that by recent standards looks stellar.

The stock market has added a quarter to its value since the election, a $5 trillion vote of confidence. The jaunty outlook is recharging animal spirits in corner offices: In its January survey of small companies, the National Federation of Independent Business found that 32% of the enterprises rated the present climate “a good time to expand”; that was a record high and a threefold increase from late 2016.

Fueling the giddiness is the President’s signature legislative achievement: the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which slashed rates for corporations from 35% to 21%. The new law is a runaway hit with business leaders. Companies as varied as American Airlines aal , Walmart wmt , and Verizon vz predict that the measure will swell their earnings for years to come, and marquee CEOs from JPMorgan Chase’s jpm Jamie Dimon to Boeing’s ba Dennis Muilenburg laud it as a powerful tonic for American competitiveness. The looming profit surge has prompted more than 200 Fortune 500 companies to raise their minimum pay (U.S. Bancorp, Humana), issue one-time bonuses to employees (Home Depot, Walt Disney), or both.

Trump’s heady economic potion, however, is masking misguided policies that could leave those same businesses with a severe hangover from today’s celebration. The U.S. government’s huge and growing budget deficits have become gargantuan enough to threaten the great American growth machine. And Trump’s policies to date—a combination of deep tax cuts and sharp spending increases—are shortening the fuse on that fiscal time bomb, by dramatically widening the already unsustainable gap between revenues and outlays. On our current course, we’re headed for a morass of punitive taxes, puny growth, and stagnant incomes for workers—a future that’s the precise opposite of what Trump champions.

By 2028, America’s government debt burden could explode from this year’s $15.5 trillion to a staggering $33 trillion—more than 20% bigger than it would have been had Trump’s agenda not passed. At that point, interest payments would absorb more than $1 in $5 of federal revenue, crippling the government’s ­capacity to bolster the economy, and constraining the private sector too. Contrary to the claims of the President and his supporters, the U.S. can’t grow fast enough to shed this burden; indeed, Trump’s agenda on immigration and trade looks likely to stunt that growth. (More on that later.) “This is almost like climate change,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “It doesn’t do you in this year, or next year, but you’ll see the ill effects in a day of reckoning.”

In the absence of decisive, quick action to tackle this slow-motion crisis, the best-case scenario for the next few years is that America becomes a much riskier place to do business. A high debt load will limit our flexibility to keep the economy on an even course. “Countries with high debt don’t respond aggressively to downturns,” says Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff. If the U.S. slips into recession, we’ll lack the option of lowering taxes or increasing spending on infrastructure, for example, as tools to revive growth. And as the debt load grows, efforts by the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy with lower rates would be more likely to feed runaway inflation. “Then, investors will dump Treasuries,” says John Cochrane, an economist at the Hoover Institution. “That will drive rates far higher, and make the budget picture even worse.”

Read More: How Debt Could Blow-Up the Trump Economy

US Economy: Dow Jones drops another 166.97 points today after a loss of 254 yesterday.

U.S. stocks on Wednesday ended a tumultuous session firmly lower after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy-setting meeting sparked a fresh wave of volatility, as bond rates clambered higher and the dollar strengthened, weighing on equities.

Rea more: Dow gives up 300-point gain to end lower as bond yields rise after Fed minutes - MarketWatch

US Economy Is in Danger of Overheating and Exploding Into Financial Crisis - by Desmond Lachman

My long career as a macro-economist both at the IMF and on Wall Street has taught me that it is very well to make bold macro-economic calls as long as you do not specify a time period within which those calls will occur. However, there are occasions, such as today, when the overwhelming evidence suggests that a major economic event will occur within a relatively short time period. On those occasions it is very difficult to resist making a time-sensitive bold economic call.

So here goes. By this time next year, we will have had another 2008-2009 style global economic and financial market crisis. And we will do so despite Janet Yellen's recent reassurances that we would not have another such crisis within her lifetime.

There are two basic reasons to fear another full-blown global economic crisis soon: The first is that we have in place all the ingredients for such a crisis. The second is that due to major economic policy mistakes by both the Federal Reserve and the U.S. administration, the U.S. economy is in danger of soon overheating, which will bring inflation in its wake. That in turn is all too likely to lead to rising interest rates, which could very well be the trigger that bursts the all too many asset price bubbles around the world.

Read more: US Economy Is in Danger of Overheating and Exploding Into Financial Crisis | Economic Intelligence | US News

US Economy: Budget: Deficits and Debt to Become a Big Worry Under Proposed Plan-by Shawn Tully

In a year or 18 months, it’s probable that America’s top-of-mind issue will no longer be the terrific economy. Using one of Washington, D.C.’s favorite words, the public debate will most likely “pivot” to a threat so gigantic it can no longer be ignored: The looming disaster of deficits and debt.

The latest signal that our fiscal future will emerge as tomorrow’s dominant issue: The new, bi-partisan budget deal forged by the Senate. The accord not only greatly increases discretionary spending over the next two years, it lifts the baseline for future outlays by double-digits, putting deficits and debt on a far steeper trajectory. Most of all, the measure is proof positive that both Democrats and Republicans, and President Trump, are in denial mode. The parties and the White House are all joining hands to make an already grave situation even worse.

The colossal budget measure passed both the Senate and House on the morning of February 9, ending a several-hour federal government shutdown that started at 12:01 AM. While Trump and Congressional leaders congratulate themselves for reaching common ground and keeping the government funded, their bill’s real legacy will be hurrying the issue of unsustainable deficits from the wing to center stage.

It ensures that two milestones, bound to spook the public, arrive a lot sooner than expected. Deficits will probably reach $1 trillion in the current or next fiscal year, almost double what the Congressional Budget Office had projected less than a year ago for 2018.

U.S. debt is now on track to reach $30 trillion over the next decade. That’s over 100% of projected GDP, well into the danger zone where investors demand higher rates to buy government debt. And if rates do rise substantially, the U.S. will rival the likes of Italy as one of the world’s most debt-ravaged nations.

Read more: Budget: Deficits and Debt to Become a Big Worry Under Proposed Plan | Fortune

USA: Wall Street Volatility: the US economy is not as good as we are being told

You wonder why there is so much commotion about the Wall Street drop. It should not take all these economic wizards to figure out, that with the approved Trump Republican budget, which has cut taxes on one side and greatly increased expenditures on the other side for the Military, Infrastructure, the Mexican Wall, etc., etc., the National US deficit can only increase from what it already is.

One minus one is still a big 0 not 2. Indeed, regardless of all these creative words used by Wall Street, like "versatility", "correction", "volatility", "fundamentals", the US economy is not in good shape,whatever we "the people" are being told.

EU-Digest

US Economy: putting all the facts together-not as good as Trump and some economic pundits want us to believe-not benefitting average Americans

With the stock market Dow Jones dropping 666 points today in addition to earlier big decreases in the last few days, the question arises, "is the US economy really  in as good a shape as economic pundits and Donald Trump wants us to believe?

Let us look at some of the facts.

Trump said as president he would be bringing economic growth  “from 1% up to 4%.” He added, “I actually think we can go higher than 4%.”

By the time Trump’s team submitted its first budget, that number shrank to 3%. Unfortunately for Trump and everyone else counting on it, he missed each one of those targets. Meanwhile, our neighbors and allies kept moving forward. 

Here’s how U.S. growth has looked under Trump and what it means for most Americans in 2018.

After two consecutive quarters of growth just above 3%, economists and the Trump administration got bad news about the last three months of 2017. During that time, GDP growth slipped to 2.6%.

When that report came out, Trump had just given his late January speech at Davos. “After years of stagnation, the United States is once again experiencing strong economic growth,” the president said.

However, the rate for his first 11+ months in office was even lower.

Technically, Trump didn’t enter office until late January 2017, so 20 days of the past year fall under the Obama administration. However, for that mostly Trump period, the U.S. economy grew 2.3% for the year.

Looking at recent history, this pace of growth is normal, but it falls well below the expectations set by the first businessman president. Besides, what about all the folks getting bonuses and companies hiring following the GOP tax plan passing? Didn’t that movement boost economic numbers?

Trump’s tax plan slashed the corporate rate by over 40%, meaning billions for some of the richest Americans and many companies. However, a late January 2018 report showed hardly any working Americans joining in on the fun.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, only 2% of U.S. adults got a raise, bonus, or another new type of benefit following the tax cuts passing in December 2017. It’s difficult to see substantially higher growth without more money circulating to first-time small business owners.

The Republicans don't like to mention it, but natural disasters last year made a dent of $306 billion in the US economy.

Other budget items that will affect the US economy are.the border wall $700 million or more, Infrastructure  1.5 trillion. .Military  budget expansion $716 billion.

You don't have to be Einstein to figure out that expenditures based on receivables re taxes etc. will increase the deficit by large numbers.

And if all this is not enough, as one economist noted, given Trumps skirmishes with the US judicial system including the FBI - re Russian investigation,  the US is also only a few "Trump  tweets" away from a constitutional crises, and major upheavals within the US political and financial establishment.

Bottom-line: the US overall health is not in good shape and that 666 point drop of the Dow Jones could very well be the beginning of a major meltdown,

EU-Digest 

Turkish Economy: Turkey’s current account deficit widens in May

Turkey’s current account deficit was $5.24 billion in May 2017, up $2.13 billion year-on-year, official data revealed on July 13. 
     
“The current account deficit recorded $5.24 billion, indicating an increase of $2.13 billion compared to May of the previous year, bringing the 12-month rolling deficit to $35.3 billion,” the Turkish Central Bank said.
      
The bank stated this development in the current account was mainly attributable to the increase in the deficit in goods items by $1.82 billion to $5.64 billion, followed by a $521 million rise in the primary income deficit to $956 million in May.   
  
Travel items, which are a major part under services, recorded a net inflow of $1.21 billion in May, increasing by $181 million compared to the same month of 2016, the bank added.   
   
Meanwhile, the country’s current-account deficit in the first five months of this year stood at $16.85 billion, up from some $14 billion compared to the January-May 2016 period.     

Turkey’s annual current account deficit last year was around $32.5 billion, relatively stable compared to the 2015 figure of $32.1 billion.        

Read more: Turkey’s current account deficit widens in May - ECONOMICS